Editorial: Promising ways forward on Tampa Bay transit

The death of Go Hillsborough last month marked the third time this decade that Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have rejected new tax initiatives for transportation improvements. If this region is to grow, manage its demand for transportation and improve its quality of life, three things have become clear. Both counties need stronger leadership on transit from their elected leaders, new revenue streams for transportation and better coordination to solve what's a truly regional challenge.

Encouragingly, there are two positive developments on those fronts. Hillsborough County commissioners sought a way forward last week and want to take another look at potential revenue sources. Pinellas County administrator Mark Woodard said the two county commissions will soon meet to get acquainted and offered a positive suggestion that the counties consider putting a transportation measure before their voters simultaneously that would focus on a single project linking the two.

Here's where to go next:

• The two commissions should agree to meet regularly to craft a regional transportation strategy. Any plan must include a robust approach for expanding mass transit across the bay. Having a two-county vote simultaneously is an intriguing idea; with tens of thousands of residents living and working on opposite sides of the bay, it would offer an opportunity to make a real dent in congestion, make bridge commutes more convenient and affordable and build mass support for a ballot measure under a single branding campaign. The questions the two sides need to explore are whether a twin referendum can be crafted in a reasonable time frame and whether it would be ambitious enough to deliver on its promise.

• The counties should revive talks about merging their two bus systems, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. While studies in recent years put cost savings at a modest level, consolidation would refocus the agencies on improving cross-county service, which would be good for the larger downtowns in both counties, the beaches and airports, universities and other major destinations. The counties should find new funding now — not wait for a voter referendum — to expand cross-county bus service. This would build public support for mass transit, build a foundation to promote rail and show the state that Tampa Bay is creating options beyond widening roads — all vital if the region wants the state to shift more of its own resources locally toward mass transit.

• Voters need to put in place stronger leadership by making transportation a signature issue in local elections. This cannot continue to be a priority only for county staffers — who are forced to manage the deteriorating capacity of the roadways — or the private sector, which recognizes the link between quality transit and growth and has put its money and time behind the failed referendums. Nothing stands a chance if commissioners aren't willing to accept the case for new taxes and then go out and sell it.

The frustrations of three failed ballot measures are still fresh, and it will take hard work to bring another transportation package to the voters. Woodard and Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill have talked about a joint Pinellas-Hillsborough transit effort, which is very much still a broad concept. That would break the failed mold of designing separate transportation proposals tainted by political calculations, and it holds real promise.